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LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
1
LANGUAGE AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY IN THE NIGERIAN MILITARY
COUP SPEECHES: A CASE STUDY OF GENERAL AGUIYI IRONSI’S,
GENERAL YAKUBU GOWON’S AND GENERAL MURTALA MUHAMMED’S
Moses Omoniyi Ayeomoni
Obafemi Awolowo University
Osun State, Nigeria
Abstract
The study investigated language functions in the maiden coup speeches of General
Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi, General Yakubu Gowon and General Murtala Muhammed. The data
were drawn from the coup political speeches of the three military political rules above. The
speeches were analysed following Gutwinski’s model of analysis of lexical connective items
and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. In order to ensure accuracy and objectivity,
there were statistical calculations expressed in Relative Frequency Percentages.
Based on item-by-item analysis in the speeches, the content lexical items in the
speeches were extracted and classified into the sense relations of Collocation, Hyponymy,
Antonymy, Synonymy and Repetition. Thereafter, the Overall Relative Frequency
Percentages ORFPS (Overall Relative Frequency Percentages) of all the lexical items in the
speeches were obtained. Equally, the Relative Frequency Percentages RFPS (Relative
Frequency Percentages) of each of the meaning relations were calculated.
It was discovered from the study that the three military political leaders employed
all the lexical relations, of synonym, hyponym repetition and collocation to enhance and
achieve their political ideological orientations, while collocation was used to enhance
directness, military authority and orientation. The study generally shows interconnecting
relationships of lexemes and political ideology in military coup political discourse.
(Key Words: Language Functions, General Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi, General Yakubu
Gowon and General Murtala Muhammed).
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
2
INTRODUCTION
Politics has a wide range of definitions depending on who is defining it and the
angle at which it is viewed. Azikwe (1974:85), for instance, views it as "the growth of
political consciousness". Mazrui (1975:91) sees it as "an activity, at the centre of which, is a
distinct class of people called „politicians‟”. To him, politicians are not mere practitioners of
the art of politics, but its creators. Larswell (1965:8), on the other hand, describes it as the
'science of power'; in which case, politics is seen as power. Harris (1979:56) corroborates
this claim when he says that in our age there is no need of keeping out of politics as all
issues are political issues saying that politics is concerned with power: the power to make
decisions, control resources, other people‟s behaviour and even their values. It is in this
sense that politics is viewed and played in Nigeria.
So, politics is inevitably connected to power. The acquisition of power and the
enforcement of political beliefs can be achieved through physical coercion and so on.
Under dictatorial regimes like military rule, those in power often control people by using
force. However, the phenomenon is generally viewed as a process by which groups make
decisions. Politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate,
academic and religious institutions.
Language and Politics
Language and politics are interconnected, as the quest for power is characterised by
ingenious use of language. Besides, those that were involved in politics at different levels
right from classical times had always resorted to dexterous use of language to achieve their
aims. Since then, the language of politics has not ceased to be rhetorical. This ingenious use
of language establishes a strong connection between politics and language and this interplay
has made quite a large number of scholars interested in the study of politics and language.
Mazrui (1975:48) views language as the vehicular expression of politics, and a major tool in
man's political behaviour. He states that:
“Language is the most important point of entry into the habits of thought of a
people. It embodies within itself cumulative association derived from the
total experience of its people”.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
3
People‟s perception of certain issues or concepts can be influenced by language. One
of the goals of politicians is to persuade the audience of the validity of the politician‟s basic
claims. This is possible through language, and the same language can be used to construct
an ideology, which will affect and condition the way people think. Language can also be
used to control the way people react.
In another context, Harris (1979) agrees with the submission that language and
politics are inseparable, claiming that through the invaluable role of language in politicking,
many states succeed in communicating their intentions such as transmitting encouragement,
warning, approval or displeasure when required and negotiating understanding. He strongly
believes that language is the means by which political ideas are transmitted to the
community; hence, he finally submits that the strength of language in politicking is
enormous and those who control the public media have enormous power. Equally, language
is the tool and means by which one’s candid thoughts and feelings on issues are expressed.
In a similar tone, Ranney (1983:126) submits that:
... communication plays a significant role in politics and in the process of
forming political opinion, for it is the basic medium through which political
groups are formed and seek to influence public policy.
The same Ranney (1983:130), while reviewing the issue of communication or
language in relation to politics, opines that:
Four hostile newspapers were the equivalent of 10,000 enemy troops on the
field of battle, underlining the extent to which political language is itself a
weapon! Every political authority will lead to justify itself by an appeal to
language in its symbolic and realistic sense.
So, it is obvious from the submissions above that language and politics are closely
connected as language either overtly or covertly expressed, is seen as the vehicular
expression of politics.
HISTORICAL SURVEY OF MILITARY RULE IN NIGERIA
The politics of the Federation of Nigeria is of several episodes, dating back to Lord
Frederick Lugard's administration. For years, after the 1959 elections, the problems facing
the country were numerous and disturbing. The politicians became very powerful; foreign
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
4
investors and capital lenders exercised their influence on the country through their economic
projects that were designed for the benefit and interest of the politicians. As a result, there
was general disenchantment and tension in the country from the Independence Day, October
1, 1960 to May 29, 1999, Nigeria had witnessed many revolutions, counter-revolutions and
developments.
Between 1966 and 1993, Nigeria was ruled successively by the military with a brief
period of civilian interregnum between 1979 and 1983. The usual excuse for taking over
government was to sanitise the already bastardised political terrain and prepare the ground
for democratic governance. In the process, the military usurped political power, which they
held on to, tenaciously, for over 13 years.
SOCIO-POLITICAL BACKGROUND OF THE SPEECH
Aguiyi-Ironsi‟s government was instituted following the political crisis that
engulfed the country – Nigeria in the early 60‟s, and which escalated and spread to some
parts of the country with increasing loss of faith in political parties and the political
leadership. This crisis of confidence reached a head during the election in the Western
Region in October 1965 (Ojiako 1986:18). There were charges by the opposition of
rigging of the election and general abuse of power by the regional government in the
conduct of the elections. As a result, arson, murder and looting became widespread in
Western Nigeria since October. The situation deteriorated that certain army officers
attempted to effect a change in the nation‟s political leadership.
The Council of Ministers of the National Government met and appraised the
problems confronting the Government. They appreciated the immediate need to control
the serious situation, which threatened the Republic. On Sunday, January 16, the Council
of Ministers, unanimously decided to hand over voluntarily, the administration of the
country with immediate effect to the Nigerian Army. This was formally done on the same
day by the Acting President of the Republic, Dr Nwafor Orizu. The Government of the
Republic of Nigeria was then handed over to Major General Johnson Thomas Umunakwe
Aguiyi-Ironsi. This speech thus marks the beginning of his administration and more
importantly, the beginning of the military administration in Nigeria.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
5
INTENTIONS/SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is expected that this study will immensely contribute to the understanding of the
lexical usage of milito-political speeches and provide a clear basis for understanding the
language of military politics in Nigeria and the world at large. It is also expected that it will
throw further light on the interconnecting relationship between words and political
ideologies.
THEORETICAL LINGUISTIC FRAMEWORKS
ON LEXIS AS A LEVEL OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS
The lexical level of analysis has been quite intricate, because lexical items, which
are the basic unit in the structure of lexis are large in number. By lexical items, we
sometimes mean only words, which are members of the open classes, while those that are
members of the closed classes are referred to as grammatical items, (Aremo, 2004:50-
58). Lexis as a concept is the main focus in many branches of linguistics like General
Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, Literary Stylistics and so on, see Lyons (1977),
Ferris (1993), Cruse (1986), Sinclair (1987), Carter and Burton (1982).
Besides, the inherent meaning of a sentence is carried by both the lexical items;
that is, vocabulary words, and by the items that indicate arrangements that are normally
considered part of the grammatical system of a language, Cruse (1990). It is on this
premise that a distinction is made between lexical and grammatical items, which are
referred to as an open set of items and a closed set of items respectively. An open set of
items is a set with unrestricted membership, examples of which include classes of nouns,
verbs, adjective and adverbs. On the other hand, the closed set has just few members that
change so slowly for most purposes, hence it is regarded as fixed set. Examples of this
include classes of pronouns, conjunctions, preposition and articles.
The distinction made between lexical and grammatical items is particularly
emphasized in systemic Grammar. The focus on lexical studies in Systemic Grammar
goes back to Firth‟s interest in collocational relations in texts, when he became interested
in the distribution of words in a text, as some words occur more predictably together than
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
6
others. Halliday (1966:9). One notable scholar in the neo-Firthian school is Halliday, who
has developed the Systemic Functional Linguistics Model. Halliday argues that lexical
statements could operate independently of grammatical restrictions. He gives as examples
items like Strong, Strongly, Strength and Strengthen that are considered as different
words and assigned different classes. But in lexical matters, they are all regarded as one
item. In her own submission, Berry (1977) stresses that a lexical item is identified by its
collocates, that is, a lexical item is unique and different from all other lexical items
because of the uniqueness of the list of lexical items with which it can be collocated. This
means that no two lexical items will have the same list of possible collocates, though
their lists may have some items in common.
METHODOLOGY
In this study, a tie is taken as any lexical feature, which functions as a cohesive
relation between two elements with one of them presupposing the other. Each text is
analysed for immediate tie relation which is got from two adjacent sentences containing a
pair of items related to one another in meaning, and which connects the sentences
involved.
Then to identify the ties between adjacent sentences (immediate ties), the sentences
from the selected documents are written out and numbered serially. Every sentence in
each data is examined for a tie with the preceding one, and the figure indicating the
number of ties that the sentence has with the preceding one is indicated. The ties are then
classified into different lexical relationships (e.g. repetition, synonymy, hyponymy,
antonym and collocation). The study also involves the remote ties, which are ties that
connect two non-adjacent sentences that have no immediate.
Furthermore, the term lexical item, is used in this study to refer to members of the
major word-classes (noun, verbs, etc.) which collocates with other items. The item does
not cover such high-frequency items from the major word-classes like, come, put etc. or
items from the minor word-classes (e.g. pronouns, prepositions and auxiliaries). In this
case, homonymy such as „bark‟ (of a dog) and „bark‟ (of a tree) is excluded from the list
as these are not connected in meaning and cannot indicate any connection between the
different sentences in which they are used.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
7
Each text was analyzed for the immediate ties and also for the remote ties classified
into the different types of lexical relationships (e.g. repetition, synonymy, etc.) they
represent. The occurrences of these different kinds of lexical relationships were added up
in each speech and their relative frequencies obtained and discussed .At the end of the
analyses, a table was prepared showing the total number of all the ties used (both
immediate and remote), the different kinds of devices they represented and the relative
frequencies of the devices. They were summarized in Relative Frequency Percentages
and the Overall Relative Frequency Percentage. The RFP of a lexical device shows the
percentage of all the occurrences of lexical devices represented by all the occurrences of
the particular lexical device in the texts.
This is indicated with the formula:
Total No. of Occurrences of a Lexical Device x 100
Sub-total No. of Occurrence of all the Lexical Devices 1
On the other hand, the ORFP of a device is the percentage of the grand total for
the occurrences of all the devices represented by all occurrences of the particular device
in the texts (all the speeches).
This was calculated with the formula:
Total No. of all occurrences of the devices x 100
Grand-total No. of all occurrences in the text. 1
ANALYZING THE TEXT FOR IMMEDIATE LEXICAL TIES
As a result of limited space for this study, the analysis of the first
five sentences was presented here. However, the tables
showing the analysis of the entire text were presented after
the sentences.
Sentence 1: “The government of the Federation of Nigeria having
ceased to function, the Nigerian Armed Forces have been
invited to form an Interim Military Government for the
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
8
purposes of maintaining law and order and of maintaining
essential services”.
Sentence 2: “This invitation has been accepted, and I, General J.T.U
Aguiyi-Ironsi, the General Officer Commanding the
Nigerian Army have been formally invested with authority
as Head of the Federation military Government, and
Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces”.
The connection between these two initial sentences of this speech was got through
four cohesive ties of repetition and one synonym means of the lexical items „invited‟ in
sentence 1, which is in predicator form, but repeated in nominal form in sentence 2 as
„invitation‟. Then the compound lexical item, “Nigerian Armed Forces” in sentence 1, is
repeated in sentence 2 twice as „Nigerian Army‟ and „Nigerian Armed Forces‟ and the
lexical item, “Military Government” is also repeated in sentence 2. There is one case of
synonymy between sentences 1 and 2 derived from the use of the item “Interim Military
Government” in 1, which is related synonymously with the item “Federation Military
Government” in 2.
Sentence 3: The National Military Government hereby decrees:
(a) “the suspension of the provisions of the constitution of the
Federation, relating to the office of President, the
establishment of Parliament and of the office or Prime
Minister”.
(b) “the suspension of the provisions of the constitutions of the
Regions relating to the establishment of the offices of regional
governors, Regional Premiers, and Executive Councils, and
Regional Legislature”.
In this sentence 3, there are two distinct phrases, labelled (a) and (b), the clauses
begin with “the Federation Military Government”, which occurs twice, this item is also
found in sentence 2. The lexical item „decree‟ collocates with the item Military
Government in sentence 2. Also, the item “Constitution of the Federation” clause (a) of
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
9
sentence 3 is a synonym of the item „authority‟. This means there are two ties of
repetition, one collocation and one synonym linking sentence 3 with 2.
Sentence 4: The National Military Government further decrees:
(a) “That there shall be appointed a Military Governor in each
Region of the Federation, who shall be directly responsible to
the Federal Military Government for the good government of
the region”.
(b) “The appointment as Adviser to the Military Governor of the
region, of the last person to hold the office of Governor of the
Region under the suspended provisions of the constitution”.
There are 12 items connecting sentences 4 with 3, and they are all repetitions. This
means that the connection between sentences 4 and 3 relies on repetition, the item
“Federation military government” in 3, occurs twice in sentence 4, while the item
“decree” also occurs twice. Equally, the item „governor‟ in 3 is repeated thrice as
„Military Governor in 4, while the lexical item “Region” is equally repeated three times.
Also, the item “federation” and the item “suspended provisions of the constitution” are
repeated once in each case in sentence 4.
Sentence 5: The Federation Military Government further decrees;
(a) “that the Chief justice and all other holders of judicial
appointments within the federation shall continue in their
appointments, and that the judiciary generally shall continue to
function under their existing statues”.
(b) “that all holders of appointments in the Civil Service of the
Federation and of the Regions shall continue to hold their
appointments and to carry out their duties in the normal way;
and that similarly the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria
Special Constabulary shall continue to exercise their functions
in the normal way”.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
10
(c) “that the Local Government Police forces and native Authority
Police Forces shall be placed under the overall Command of
the inspector General”.
Between sentences 4 and 5, there are 8 instances of lexical ties, which are cases of
repetition. They are as follows: the item, “National Military Government” that occurs in 4
is repeated once in 5, in the same note, the item, “further decrees” that we have in 4, is
also repeated once in 5. Also, the lexical item „appointments‟ in sentence 4, occurs four
times in sentence 5, while the item “Federation” in 4, features twice in 5.
SUMMARY OF THE IMMEDIATE LEXCIAL TIES IN AGUIYI-IRONSI’S
MAIDEN TEXT
Table 1.
S/n
o
Rep
etit
ion
Coll
oca
tion
Synonym
y
Hyponym
y
Anto
nym
y
1
2 XXXX X
3 XX X X
4 XXXXXXXXXXXX
5 XXXXXXXX
6 XXXXXXX X
7 XXX X X
8 XX X
38 1
5 0 1
45
Table 3. RFP
Repetition Collocation Synonym Antonym Hyponym Total
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
11
Immediate
Lexical
Ties.
38
1
5
0
1
45
RFP 84.44% 2.22% 11.11% 0 2.22% 100%
Remote
Lexical
Ties.
9
7
8
0
1
25
Total RFP
47
8 13
0
2 70
Table 4. ORFP
Repetition Collocation Synonym Antonym Hyponym
Total 47 8 13 0 2
Percentage 67.14% 11.43% 18.57% 0 2.86%
Immediate Ties
64.29%
Remote Ties
35.71%
YAKUBU GOWON’S MAIDEN SPEECH
(THE SECOND MILITARY GOVERNMENT (COUP NO.2))
In this segment, we present the analysis of the data drawn from the maiden
broadcast of Lt.Col Yakubu Gowon presented on 1st August, 1966. The same procedure
adopted for the analyses of texts I was followed. Tables showing the summary of the
immediate ties and of the remote ties were presented at the end of the segment.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
12
4.3.1 Socio-Political background of the Second Military Government
The January 1967 coup, which ushered in this second Military Government, was
given different interpretations. On the other hand, the coup was interpreted as a nationalist
effort on the part of the nationalist army to end the instability of the country. On the other
hand, the British Broadcasting Corporation interpreted the coup in ethnic terms. So, it did
not see the coup as a bid for clean government rather as an Ibo power play to wipe off the
Northern grip on the control of the nation (Ojiako, 1986:33).
The announcement made towards instituonalisation of unitary government was
misinterpreted. As a result, there was violent protest throughout the nooks and crannies of
the northern part of the country. Many Ibos were killed in the process and their valuable
properties were destroyed. This was in the fourth month of General Aguiyi – Ironsi‟s rein.
This hostility continued unabated. On July 28, 1966, General Aguiyi - Ironsi was at Ibadan
to open the conference of the natural rulers. During this period, violent protest and riot broke
out in Ibadan, Abeokuta and Ikeja units of the Nigerian Army. By 5.00 a.m. the following
day, July 29th
1966, the dissident solders entered the Government Lodge and kidnapped
General Ironsi and Lt.-Col. Fajuyi, and there was no confirmation of their whereabouts till
Lt.Col Gowon assumed power on 1st August, 1966.
So, on assuming duty as the second Nigerian military head of State on August 1st
1966, he presented this speech to the nation – Nigeria.
43.2 Analysis of the Speech for Immediate Lexical Ties
As a result of space, we would limit the analysis of this text to the first five sentences, but
the detailed result of the analysis will be given on the table provided. The analysis is as
follows:
1. My fellow countrymen, the year 1966 has certainly been a
fateful year for our beloved country, Nigeria. I have been
brought to the position toady of having to shoulder the
responsibilities of this country, with the consent of the majority
of the Armed Forces and members of the Supreme Military
Council, as a result of the unfortunate incident that occurred in
the early morning of July 29, 1966.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
13
2. However, before I dwell on the sad issue of July 29, 1966, I
would like to recall to you the sad and unfortunate incident of
January 15, 1966, which bears relevance.
There are five ties connecting these sentences 1 and 2. Out of these connective ties,
there are three cases of repetition and two instances of synonymy. The repetitions involve
the item – „the year 1966‟ which occurs twice in sentence 1 and repeated twice in sentence
2. Then there is also the direct repetition of the nominal item – „unfortunate incident‟ in 2,
which features once in 1. In addition, there are two instances of synonymy involving the
item „sad‟, which occurs twice in 2 and functions semantically as a synonymy to the item
„fateful‟ in 1.
3. According to certain well knowing facts, which have so far not
been disclosed to the nation and the world, the country was plunged
into a national disaster by the grave and unfortunate action taken by
a section of the Army against the republic.
The two lexical ties between sentences 2and 3 are the repetitions of the nominal item
– „unfortunate incident‟ in 3, and repeated as -; unfortunate action‟ in 3. There is also a case
of the item – „national disaster‟ in 3 that functions as a synonymy of „sad and unfortunate
incident‟ in 2.
4. By this I men that a group of officers in conjunction with certain
civilians, decided to overthrow the legal government of the day, but their
efforts were thwarted by the incruptable discipline and loyalty of the
great majority of the Army and the other members of the Armed Forces
and the Police.
This sentence 4 is connected to 3, through four connective ties of two repetitions, one
collocation, one antonymy. For instance, the item – „Army‟ in 3, was repeated twice: in 4,
in the form of „Army‟ and „Armed Forces‟, while the item - „Army‟ in 3, collocates with
the item – “Officers” in 4, and „civilians runs antonymously with the item – „Army‟.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
14
5. The Army was called upon to take up, the reins of the government
until such a time that law and order has been restored.
Table 5: Summary of Immediate Lexical Ties in Text III
S/N Repetition Collocation Synonymy Hyponymy Antonymy
1
2 XXX XX
3 X X
4 XX X X
5 XX
6 XX
7 X
8 X
9 X
10 X
11 XX
12 X X
13 XX XX
14 X X
15 X
16 X
17 X
18 X
19 X
20 X X
21 X
22 XX
23 X
24 X XX X
25 X
26 X
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
15
27 XX
28 X
29 X
30 XX
31
32 XX
33 X
34 X
35 X X
36 X X
37 X
38 X X
39 X
40 X
41 X X
42 X
43
17 6 31 2 12
68
EXPLANATION OF THE SUMMARY TABLE
In the above table, the five X‟s against sentence 2 shows that it has three ties of
repetition and two ties of synonymy with the immediately preceding sentence (Sentence
1). Also, there are two X‟s against sentence 3, showing that there are two ties connecting
sentence 3 to sentence two, of which one is an instance of repetition and the other an
instance of synonymy. The figures at the end of the device columns represent the total
instances of ties used in the speech. So, there are 17 instances of repetition, 6 of
collocation, 31 of synonymy, 2 of hyponymy and 12 of antonymy. Thus, there are
altogether 68 connective ties in the entire text.
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
16
Summary of Immediate Lexical Ties in Text IV
S/N Repetition Collocation Synonymy Hyponymy Antonymy
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
XXX
X
XXX
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
17
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
23 01 21 07 05
57
4.4.3 Explanation of the Summary Table of the Immediate Ties of Text IV
In the table above, the three “X‟s” beside sentence 28, indicates three ties of
repetition. Also, the five “X‟S” against sentence 26 shows that there are three ties of
repetition, one synonymy and one hyponymy linking sentence 26 with sentence 25.
The figure at the end of each of the device columns represents the total instances
of each of the ties that feature in the entire speech. For instance, the summation shows
that:
Repetition - 23 which gives 40.4%
Collocation - 01 which gives 1.75%
Synonym - 21 which gives 36.8%
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
18
Hyponym - 07 which gives 12.3%
Antonym - 05 which gives 8.7%
In all, we have 57 lexical ties with the tie of repetition having the highest figure and
collocation with the lowest figure.
It will be recalled that in this case, it is the sentences that have been written and
numbered serially during the analysis for immediate ties that were examined here for the
remote ties. Equally, it should be noted that only the first ten sentences of the speech that
were presented here for no other reason than limited space. A table showing the overall
ties got from the analysis was however given at the end of the analysis.
A table below indicating the types and locations of the remote ties between
sentences in this Text III: General Yakubu Gowon‟s Maiden Speech.
General Gowon’s Maiden Speech’s Table
S/N No of
Ties
Connective Item Type Presupposed items and Sentence
Number
3 4 Nation
Country
Army
the republic
S
R
H
S
Country – Nigeria (1)
Country (1)
Armed Forces (1)
Country – Nigeria (1)
4 2 Civilians
Armed Forces
A
R
Armed Forces (1)
Armed Forces (1)
5 2 Army
Army
H
R
Armed Forces (1)
Army (3)
LUMINA, Vol. 22, No.2, ISSN 2094-1188
19
6 Country
Army Officer
Nation
Elimination of political
leaders and high rank
Army officers
Civilians
R
R
S
S
S
A
Country (1) (3)
Army (3)
Country (3)
National disaster (3)
Grave and unfortunate
action (3)
Army officers (4)
7 Government R
Government (4)
7 4 Uprising
Lost his life
Lost his life
Uprising
S
S
S
S
Unfortunate incident (1) (2)
Sad issue (2)
Unfortunate incident (2)
National disaster (3)
8
9
Army
Armed Forces
A civil war
The Police
Discipline and loyalty
H
C
H
S
S
S
C
A
R
Armed Forces (1)(3)
Officers (4)
Army (5)
Sad and unfortunate incident (2)
National disaster (3)
Grave and unfortunate action (3)
Officers (4)
Civilians (4)
Discipline and loyalty (4)
9 4 Shouldered
Government
Government
Reconstruction
R
R
A
Shouldered (1)
Government (4) (6)
Uprising (7)
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10
14
Country – Nigeria
Unpleasant experience
The country
Military regime
Agitate against
Support
Countrywide support
R
S
S
S
S
R
S
A
A
S
S
S
A
Country (1)
Bad issue (2)
National disaster (3)
Sand and unfortunate incident (2)
Uprising (7)
Country (3)
Nation (3)
Civilians (4)
Legal Government (4)
Thwarted (4)
Uprising (7)
Loyalty (4)
Uprising (7)
THE COUP SPEECH OF MURTALA MUHAMMED (THIRD
MILITARYGOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA)
The Speech is titled:
Text of First Broadcast to the Nation by His Excellency
Brigadier Murtala Mohammed, Head of the Federal Military
Government, Commander – in – Chief of the Armed Forces
on Wednesday, July 30, 1975.
4.5.1 Introduction
In this section, an analysis of the data drawn from the maiden speech of Brigadier
General Murtala Muhammed, delivered to the nation on assuming duty as Head – of – State,
on July 28th 1975 was presented. In carrying out the analysis, we applied the same linguistic
framework and procedure adopted in analysing texts I – IV. Based on this, readers are
referred to chapter III where a detailed discussion was given on these linguistic procedures.
4.5.2 Socio-Political Background of the Speech.
This speech marked the beginning of the third Military rule in the political history of
Nigeria. The regime was headed by Brigadier General Murtala Muhammed, ably assisted by
Brigadier-General Olusegun Obasanjo. It was instituted following the inadequacies of the
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General Gowon‟s administration as contained in this speech. Among the notable allegations
levied against him was his refusal to honour the promise and agreement reached with the
people on assuming office by not relinquishing power to a democratically elected people in
1976. Ojiako (1986:77) says:
The army could not honour its pledge to return the nation to
barracks in 1976 without plunging the nation into chaos.
In addition, General Gowon was accused of indecision, indiscipline and neglect to
the extent that the generality of the populace became disillusioned and disappointed. The
trend was so grievous that a change in the country‟s leadership became inevitable. This then
prompted Brigadier Murtala Muhammed to stage a coup against Gowon‟s administration on
July 28, 1975. This coup then necessitated this speech.
4.5.3 Analysis of the Text
Equally, for the reason given above, the analysis here is also restricted to the first
five sentences as follows:
The analytical framework and procedures are as given in Chapter III under Methodology.
The analysis follows the same procedures with texts (I – IV).
1 Events of the past few years have indicated that despite our great
human and material resources, the Government has not been able
to fulfil the legitimate expectations of our people. Nigeria has
been left to drift.
2 This situation, if not arrested, would inevitably have resulted in
chaos and even bloodshed.
These initial sentences of this speech are connected through the tie of hyponymy as
the lexical item – ‟situation‟ in 2, is used functionally here as superordinate item to the
nominal item – „Events of the past few years‟.
3. In the endeavour to build a strong, united and virile
nation, Nigerians have shed much blood the thought of
further bloodshed, for whatever reasons, must, I am sure,
be revolting to our people.
This sentence 3 is linked with sentence 2 through three ties, which are two
repetitions and one synonymy. For the repetition, the item – „bloodshed‟ and the item –
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„shed much blood‟ in 3, are repetitions of the item – bloodshed‟ in 2. In addition, the item –
„revolting‟ in 3, is a synonymy of the item – „chaos‟ in 2.
4 The Armed Forces, having examined the situation, came to
the conclusion that certain changes were inevitable.
The only tie between sentences 3 and 4 is the tie of hyponymy. This is realised from
the use of the item – “the thought of further bloodshed” in 3, as the hyponymy of the item –
„situation‟ in 4.
5. After the civil war, the affairs of state, hitherto a collective
responsibility became characterised by lack of consultation,
indecision, indiscipline and even neglect.
There is just only a tie between sentences 4 and 5. And this is a tie of synonymy
realised from the item – „became‟ in 5, being used as a synonymy of the item – “changes”
in 5.
Table 9: Summary of Immediate Lexical Ties in Text V
S/N Repetition Collocation Synonymy Hyponymy Antonymy
1
2 X
3 XX X
4 X
5 X
6 X
7 X
8 X
9 X
10 XX X
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11 XXXX
12 X
13 X X
14 XX XXXX
15 X X
16 X
17 XX
18 X
19 X
20 X
21 XX
22 X
23 X
24 X
25 X X
26 X
27 XXXX
28 X
29 X X
30 X
31 X
32 X
33 X
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34 XX
35 X
36 X
37 X
38 X
39 X
40 X XX
41 X
42 X
43
28 0 28 4 5
TOTAL 65
4.5.4 Explanation of the Summary Table of the Immediate Ties Above
The three „X‟s against sentence 3, show that there are two ties of repetition and one
tie of synonymy connecting sentence 3 with 2. Beside sentence 40, we have one „X‟ in the
repetition column and two „X‟s in the column labelled synonymy, this indicates that there
are three ties linking sentence 40 with 39, of which one is repetition and two synonymys.
The figure at the end of each of the devices stands for the total number of each ties
that feature in the entire speech, of which breakdown is this:
Repetition = 28 which gives 43.1%
Collocation = 0 which gives 0%
Synonymy = 28 which gives 43.1%
Hyponymy = 4 which gives 6.2%
Antonymy = 5 which gives 7.%
This breakdown gives a total of 65 Immediate Lexical Ties in the entire text.
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FINDINGS
We have attempted to find out, in this study, the inherent lexical features in the
coup speeches of General Aguiyi Ironsi, General Yakubu Gowon and General Murtala
Muhammed. We also attempted to find out the contextual functions of these lexical
features in the speeches. In the process, we identified the various lexical devices used in
the texts and grouped them into five classes: repetition, synonymy, hyponymy,
collocation and antonymy. We also calculated their RFP and ORFP. The analysis showed
that there was heavy reliance on the lexical device of synonym and repetition in the
speeches. This indicates that all the sentences in the speech were more connected together
through these lexical device. The reason for this might not be far from the basic fact that
the military political rulers in Nigeria preferred to run their governments with people
from their immediate constituency (the military) irrespective of their political, religious
and social inclinations and backgrounds. This made it a pure military rulership. It was
also revealed in the various tables provided that the device of repetition was most
frequently used in Ironsi‟s for instance, it had the highest ORFP of 67.14% in Aguiyi
Ironsi‟s speech. This was in tune with military decisive ideology of clarity and precision
and to avoid ambiguity, which repetition enhances. Therefore, the lexical device of
repetition, which offers opportunity for the use of the right and appropriate register or
lexemes of military political orientation was widely explored in the speeches for passing
unmistaken instructions, coersiveness to the governed.
In addition, this device: repetition in the speeches which had the highest
frequency of occurrence in Aguiyi‟s and Murtala‟s enhanced compactness cohesion -
espirit de corps which reflected the political ideology of the speaker. It was meant to
enhance a political ideology of avoidance of ambiguity and impression of instruction and
address.
It was also revealed that other lexical devices were equally found in the speeches.
For instance, devices like hyponym, collocation and synonym had some relatively high
ORFPS. This enabled the speeches to be fully cohesive and coherent just like the
coherency and compactness of the military institution. The devices in order of their
overall relative frequency percentages are as follows in Aguiyi Ironsi‟s speech:
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Repetition (ORFP) = 67.14%
Synonymy (ORFP) = 18.57%
Collocation (ORFP) = 11.43%
Hyponymy (ORFP) = 2.86%
Antonymy (ORFP) = 0%
While in General Gowon‟s speech, the breakdown is as follows:
Repetition (ORFP) = 56 which gives 7.95%
Collocation (ORFP) = 64 which give 9.09%
Antonymy (ORFP) = 161 which give 22.87%
Hyponymy (ORFP) = 129 which give 18.32%
Synonymy (ORFP) = 294 which give 41.76%
That of General Murtala Muhammed is as follows:
Repetition = 28 which gives 43.1%
Collocation = 0 which gives 0%
Synonymy = 28 which gives 43.1%
Hyponymy = 4 which gives 6.2%
Antonymy = 5 which gives 7.%
As reflected in the tables above, synonym was next to repetition in the speech of
Aguiyi‟s, while it enjoyed the highest in Gowon‟s and Murtala‟s speeches. This is a clear
manifestation of the fact that within the speeches, this device of synonym functioned like
repetition as an instrument of emphasis and reiteration; it was thus a linguistic resource
used by the military rulers to propagate their programmes, hence, this device in these
speeches accounted for its relatively high ORFP.
It should be noted as well that other lexical devices, which had low ORFP also
featured for some other reasons in these speeches. In this regard, a mention should be
made of hyponymy. This device was rated low as it had low frequency percentage in the
tables especially in Aguiyi‟s. Its low ORFP could be due to the peculiar style of military
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administration. The military did not believe in operating at all the levels of government.
They concentrated on few selected issues at the state and federal levels, leaving the
civilians to manage the grassroot and other minor political affairs; and the three military
leaders kept to these policies and ideologies. This, perhaps, informed the reason for the
scanty use of the device of hyponym that deals with the specific. Besides, the military
rulers, including General Aguiyi Ironsi, did not believe in putting the military in all
political offices even while in power. This was, perhaps, meant to enable them have a
firm and coercive grip on the specific issues at the centre. This again, is in tune with the
coercive nature of the military rulers in Nigeria.
In the same vein, the military administrators, as revealed in the study, did not so
much admire the use of the device of antonym. For instance, it has the least ORFP in the
entire speeches. In Murtala‟s for instance, it has zero percentage. This device of antonym
often considered to make them clumsy and indefinite to understand. Because antonym by its
nature, as a lexical device, could lead to confusion and inhibition of information if not
carefully handled. The military rulers by their political ideological orientation abhorred
clumsiness and deception, instead they preferred to operate simple, straightforward and less
bureaucratic government, hence, this device enjoyed zero ORFP, that is, it was totally
avoided by General Murtala. On the other hand, collocation, though reflected in the
speeches, it only provided us with lexical items of milito-political collocations such as
“Military Government Authority” thus reflecting the milito-political ideology of the rulers
as it helped to further project the coerciveness and forcefulness of the military rulers.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings, the following are the conclusions: firstly, the military
political rulers in Nigeria, relied more on the use of lexical devices of repetition and
synonym in their political speeches to express their thoughts, opinions, ideologies and their
political programmes . This is because they know the strength, potency and efficacy of the
use of these linguistic devices in political discourse. Besides, they know that constant
repetition and reiteration of words and certain expressions is a means of forcing their
programmes on the governed, as the military administration is rooted in forcefulness and
coercion. Thus the devices as contextually used in these data are meant to subjugate the
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citizenry, this paper basically showed the strength and power of language, especially words
or vocabulary as used by the military political junta in Nigeria to manipulate, manoeuvre,
cajole, subjugate, the people. Equally, other devices like hyponym and collocation were also
adequately explored for similar purposes associated with milito-political ideology and
orientation. Besides, all the devices enhanced the cohesion and coherence of the speeches;
this is no doubt unconnected with the compactness and unifying nature and oneness (espirit
de corps) of the Military Institution in Nigeria.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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